DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — At the age of 48, Fred Couples knows his days among the elite players in the world are dwindling. Not much longer will he be able to fight his balky back, not to mention a long list of players half his age.
Still, he's driven to play in the biggest tournaments against the best players.
That's why he's willing to hang around an extra night in a hotel room after this week's Memorial Tournament to play a 36-hole U.S. Open sectional qualifier at two courses in Columbus.
The finality of it all — or at least the possibility of it being a swan song — also pushes him.
"I want to play because it's probably going to be my last U.S. Open," he said of the next major in two weeks at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
So he'll get up at the break of dawn on Monday and drive to Brookside Golf and Country Club for his first 18 holes. After a quick lunch, he'll stretch his back and play 18 more holes at Ohio State's Scarlet Course.
At his age, and with his painful spinal problems, 36 holes can be torture.
"I don't know the two courses," he said Friday. "I have to make a lot of birdies because I'm sure I'll make some mistakes in 36 holes. But I'll give it a shot."
Couples, who won the Memorial in 1998 and has finished second in two of his last three visits, shot a 71 Friday to finish 36 holes at 1-under 143. He's still in contention.
But after 28 years on tour, he knows his limitations. He also knows that just walking, let alone playing well, at an extremely difficult Muirfield Village is enough of a trial.
"This course is enough to make you want to rest," he said. "Then 36 holes Monday; it's going to be tough."
Unless he someday wins a Senior Open, thus getting an automatic spot in the U.S. Open, he recognizes that he might be asking too much of his body.
This may be his last shot at going through a grueling 36 holes to have a chance at playing in another U.S. Open.
"I just don't know," he said softly. "If I get in this year, and don't play well, and I'm not in next year, to do that again ... I think my days are done."
IT'S NOT 1994: Tom Lehman, the Memorial winner 14 years ago, said there's very little comparison between the Muirfield Village course he won on and the current one.
"It's quite a bit different," he said.
Over the years since Lehman's win, the layout has gotten longer, the rough has gotten deeper and — this year at least — the greens are as fast as any venue on this or any year's schedule.
"I'm not going to speak for Mr. Nicklaus or even try to read his mind, but certainly he wants this to be a major championship-quality test," said Lehman, who hasn't finished in the top 10 at the Memorial since winning.
